JungAh Lee

JungAh Lee

JungAh Lee (b. 2001) is a composer based in Seoul, South Korea.

In 2025, JungAh was selected for grants by both Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture (SFAC) and Arts Council Korea (ARKO), and with support from ARKO presented a portrait concert ‘sense-stimulus.’ A finalist in the 2024 CMSS Young Composers Competition and honorable mention recipient in the 2024 ISB David Walter Composition Competition, she has participated as a composition fellow at the highSCORE Festival, New Music on the Point, Darmstädter Ferienkurse, TIMF Academy, and IRCAM Forum Workshops Hors les Murs in Seoul.

JungAh’s music has been performed internationally in Austria, Germany, Italy, Korea, and the United States by Ensemble Modern, Ensemble TIMF, mdi Ensemble, Chris Otto, Szymon Marciniak, mdw contemporary music ensemble, and METALISM, among others. Major works include mini-opera Ant Stopped, awakening for violin and electroacoustic sound, and string quartet Line of Sight, which led to a commission from Trio Jade. Across creative boundaries, she has been involved in numerous theater and interdisciplinary performance productions, including Project Yonggung: Mystery of Paradise, Vampire in a Box, and Accanto Sinawi, in roles spanning composer, director, and assistant. In parallel, JungAh recontextualizes Korean traditional music’s gestures and instrumental characters within her musical language, featuring works with Gugak performers at Mokpo National University, Seoul National University, Mullae Art Space, and Yeongdeungpo Art Hall.

Graduating summa cum laude with a B.M. from Seoul National University (’23), JungAh holds a M.M. in composition (’25) from the same institution, where she studied with Shinuh Lee and Uzong Choe and was a graduate student instructor fellow. She received her master’s degree with the thesis “Flexibility of Rhythm in Contemporary Music after 1950: Notational Consequences of Aesthetic Choices.” She has had masterclasses and lessons from Helmut Lachenmann, Unsuk Chin, Christian Mason, Marcos Balter, Chaya Czernowin, Hans Thomalla, Katherine Balch, Dan Trueman, Amy Williams, Nick DiBerardino, Amy Beth Kirsten, and Dmitri Tymoczko.

Short Bio (113 words)

JungAh Lee is a composer of contemporary music, working across acoustic, electroacoustic, and operatic compositions. In 2025, JungAh was selected for grants by Arts Council Korea and presented her portrait concert ‘sense-stimulus.’ Her music has been performed internationally in Austria, Germany, Italy, Korea, and the United States by Ensemble Modern, Ensemble TIMF, mdi Ensemble, and Chris Otto, among others. Major works include mini-opera Ant Stopped, awakening for violin and electroacoustic sound, and string quartet Line of Sight. She has been involved in several theater productions and is interested in recontextualizing Korean traditional music within her own musical language. JungAh holds a B.M. (summa cum laude) and M.M. in composition from Seoul National University.